A reliability map is generated by superimposing or associating populations or other intrinsic data is superimposed or associated with a geographic map of a region, which is divided into a grid having cells of uniform size. Densities of towns, cities or other geospatial areas are determined and assigned to cells of the grid, which have sizes corresponding to minimum dimensions of a corridor required for travel by an aerial vehicle. When a mission requiring travel from an origin to a destination within the region is identified, one or more paths of a safe route between the origin and the destination are selected based on the reliability map. The safe route is selected to avoid areas of high population density or locations of critical infrastructure such as schools, hospitals or public safety buildings.

There is provided a drone system in which a drone and a movable body operate in coordination with each other, the movable body being capable of moving with the drone aboard and allowing the drone to make a takeoff and a landing, the movable body including: a takeoff-landing area on which the drone can be placed and that serves as a takeoff-landing point from and on which the drone takes off and lands; a movement control section capable of moving the movable body together with the drone aboard; and a movable body transmission section that sends information on the movable body, the drone including: a flight control section that causes the drone to fly; and a drone reception section that receives information on the movable body, wherein the drone sends, to the movable body, a position of a takeoff-landing point at a time when the drone takes off.

A method for workforce management includes receiving a service request associated with a task area from a user device, and controlling movement of an unmanned aerial machine from a home base to the task area. The unmanned aerial machine acquires evaluation data about the task area. The method also includes determining a task to be performed based on the service request, the task area, and the evaluation data. Further, the method includes selecting one or more autonomous machines to perform the task based on at least the task and a location of the task area, and controlling the selected one or more autonomous machines to perform the task

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) having wings stowed against a fuselage of the UAV in a first arrangement is disclosed. Methods and systems for deploying the wings into a second arrangement are disclosed. For example, after a launch of the UAV, the UAV monitors for at least one pre-set condition. The at least one pre-condition being a pre-condition associated with deploying wings of the UAV into the second arrangement. Upon detecting the at least one pre-set condition, the wings of the UAV are deployed into a second arrangement. Deploying the wings comprises activating, in response to detecting the at least one pre-set condition associated with the UAV, a gearbox configured to transition the wings from the first arrangement to the second arrangement. Roll control may be maintained throughout launch and deployment.

An inventory management system managing a plurality of inventory items stored in a storage area. The inventory management system includes an autonomous vehicle configured to move within the storage area and a computing device communicatively coupled to the autonomous vehicle. The autonomous vehicle includes a beacon configured to facilitate detection of a current position of the autonomous vehicle based on signal triangulation, a sensor configured to detect information indicative of a number of inventory items at the current position of the autonomous vehicle, and a wireless data link configured to transmit a signal indicative of the number of inventory items. The computing device may detect a position of the autonomous vehicle based on the signal transmitted from the beacon, and update an inventory of the storage area based on the signal indicative of the number of inventory items.

Systems, devices, and methods for presenting information in the sky using drones are disclosed. The presentation of information includes navigating one or more drones to locations in the sky where the locations are associated with an image, emitting light signals at the locations, capturing the light signals with a user device, processing the captured signals to identify the image, capturing a background image including at least one of the locations associated with the image, and presenting simultaneously, on the user device, the identified image and the background image.

Disclosed is a method of communicating directions to an end destination by one or more drones, the method having steps of moving via flying motion by a first drone between a first location and a second location along a travel path therebetween, wherein the second location is the end destination or an intermediate location; and displaying indicia on a first display panel of the drone that is indicative of directions to the second location.

Apparatus, systems, processes, and computer-readable mediums for facilitating the use of drones are described. For one embodiment, such a system includes a user element having a user application computer program configured to instruct a user interface device to facilitate use of user data and use of mission parameter(s) for a proposed drone mission. An owner element includes an owner application computer program configured to facilitate use of owner data and use of at least one drone parameter. A fleet system element is communicatively coupled to the user element and to the owner element and includes a computer system processor configured to facilitate use of a fleet record and use of at least one fleet parameter.

A drone deployable power line fault detection sensor. The sensor can include a clamp mechanism having a clamp ring with first and second ring portions movably connected to each other and a resilient member positioned to urge the first and second ring portions toward a closed configuration. A latch can be positioned to retain the first and second ring portions in an open configuration whereby the sensor can be positioned on a power transmission line with a drone. A trigger can be coupled to the latch and operative, under the weight of the sensor, to disengage the latch thereby releasing the first and second ring portions to close around the transmission line under the force of the resilient member. One or more sensors are carried by the clamp mechanism and positioned to detect a line fault on the power transmission line, which is reported to a power station control system to de-energize the power transmission line.

In a particular embodiment, coordinating an aerial search among unmanned aerial vehicles is disclosed that includes receiving, by a server in a UAV transportation ecosystem, search area data, accessing, by the server, UAV parameters for a type of UAV, determining, by the server in dependence upon the search area data and the UAV parameters, a number of UAVs needed to complete a coordinated aerial search of a search area within a time limit, and partitioning, by the server, the search area into a plurality of partitions, wherein the number of partitions is equal to the number of UAVs.